Denmark - International Encyclopaedia of Laws

53–57Part I, Ch. 1, Sources of Antitrust Law in DenmarkI. The TFEU53. A member of the European Union, Denmark is required to adopt legalregimes that mirror the EU rules. The Danish Parliament and courts each have anobligation to ensure that EU legislation is effectively implemented in Denmark, butare given the discretion to select the best mode of implementation, depending onthe type and purpose of the EU legislation. EU directives must also be implementedinto Danish law. Despite being given a choice as to how they may affect such implementation,Danish legislators usually introduce directives into national law by newlegislation.54. Since 2000, the provisions of the TFEU are directly applicable in Denmark.Section 23a of the Danish Competition Act allows the Danish authorities to directlyapply Articles 101 and 102 TFEU, with the exception of Article 101(3). A moredirect and clear authority to apply the Articles to conduct in Denmark appears inRegulation 1/2003. EU regulations regarding competition law are also directlyapplicable in Denmark.55. As is the case generally for all EU Member States, national legislation mustbe interpreted in accordance with EU law. Where there are inconsistencies, EU legislationtakes precedence over Danish legislation and the Danish Act will be deemedinvalid in relation to the relevant conduct.II. Secondary Sources of LawA. The Commission Regulations on Block Exemptions56. Among the Commission regulations that are directly applicable in Denmarkwithout formal implementation are block exemptions. Even so, Danish executiveorders have been adopted for each of the six Commission block exemption regulations,implementing them into Danish legislation.B. The Merger Regulation57. As with other EU regulations, the Merger Regulation directly applies inDenmark. According to the European Union’s ‘one-stop shop’ principle, the Danishcompetition authorities have no jurisdiction under national law to review a mergerif the notification thresholds in the Merger Regulation are exceeded. The provisionsin the Danish Competition Act governing merger control, mainly section 12, arebased upon the same principles as the Merger Regulation, but it is notable that theDanish notification thresholds are currently significantly higher than those containedin the Merger Regulation. However, on 1 October 2010 the thresholds in section12(1)(i) will be lowered to bring Denmark’s merger rules more in line with EUmerger control.28 – Denmark Competition Law – (February 2011)